The Love of His Friends
by ExDreamer
Summary: Squall is terribly ill... so why isn't anyone there by his side?


The Love of his Friends   version 2.1

Drops of September rain hit Squall's window fiercely. For the pass few days there had been nothing but sorrowful rain. Each day passed through miserly at Balamb Gardens that week. Squall lie in bed, sick with a terrible cough and unbearable sinus pains. It wasn't everyday the emotionless, yet handsome teen was in bed too ill for the day's unexciting classes. Squall gazed around his dorm… it was empty. He had been awake for nearly an hour due to the vigorous downpour and the whole place, with the exception of the outdoor rain, had been quiet - too quiet. So he did nothing but sit there in the miserable little room, staring bored and painfully at the ceiling. It was almost as if he was looking into a gray sky of sin.

Coughing gruffly, he peered over at his bed stand. He spotted a glass of murky tap water lying on the bed stand. Reaching for it slowly, he foolishly bumped his broken alarm clock on the floor. What a day it had been already for the unfortunate Squall. Too groggy to pick it up, he sipped the tap water, nearly spitting it out in disgust on his first sip. He glanced into the shiny glass cup and noticed little white specks floating around in it.  He gagged and he set the glass back on his bed stand. He had forgotten that it had been there for over a week.

Hours passed. The rain was too much of a nuisance for Squall to sleep, so he laid there… and laid there, coughing what seemed to be every twenty seconds or so. He was miserable. The pains in his sinuses began to swell. And swell. And swell.

When he finally got up from his stiff bed, Squall crept into his deserted washroom. All that was in the tiny enclosed space was a greasy mirror, a dirty sink that desperately needed cleaning, a toilet, and a pearl-colored bath tub that Squall rarely used. He glanced at the mirror. Without surprise, he found a bear and ugly face staring back at him.

Squall muttered something under his breath and turned to the bathtub. At that moment a grin came to his face. He could already feel the boiling waters rushing against him in a wonderfully soothing way. It reminded him of his youth, being in the beach's glistening water during the long summer days. How beautiful the beach was…. In a way, he really did want to go back to that Orphanage. But maturity had caught up with him since then, so there was no way to return back to his stable heaven that once was. "Wasn't it abandoned anyway? Yeah. Like my soul," Squall thought.

Stripping his outer clothing, he placed a muscular leg into the hot bath. It had been months since he had taken one, so his whole body felt misplaced as it became submerged in steaming water. Squall closed his eyes, remembering the days when he was a young child. Though being in the warm depths of the tub felt relaxing, he was still in pain. 

As the minutes past, Squall's sinuses ached even more. They were rapidly becoming more and more stiff and bloated. Tears gathered in his eyes as he tried to ignore all the suffering he was going through – but it wasn't working. He wasn't used to this sort of illness. Gripping his nasal area, he cringed. Not only were his sinuses bothering him, but also for the first time in a long while, Squall felt lonely. He was in a period of sever sickness… but no one was by his side… helping him … making him feel better… 

"Where are Zell? Selphie? Quistis? Irvine? Rinoa? Or even… Seifer? Have they left me all alone purposely?" Squall wept silently.  "They all must hate me… they must…"

By then, Squall had burst into tears. He hadn't cried since he had been separated from his parents. This was serious. He snatched the bar of soap from a section of the bathtub and through it at the wall with all his force, cascades of salty fluid dripping down his swollen cheeks. 

                A whole, long hour passed as Squall lie in the flooded bathtub, still in his unbreakable tears. He couldn't take the pain… the pain of loneliness and being ill. It was horrible.

"They…they… they… do hate me!" Squall nearly screamed.

And without any regrets, he plunged his moist face down into the cold water, which was once so relaxing and warm… He shut his eyes tightly and tried his hardest to drown himself. 

"There's no point in living… I'm only hated… only hated… only – "

Squall was out cold before he could finish his thought. It all seemed hopeless until he felt a great warmth against him… just like his mother. Opening his blood-shot eyes, he made into vision a delicate woman… with midnight hair and a pretty face. She was staring at him – she looked upset. 

"Mot…. mother…" Squall barely muttered, before he began his coughing once again.

"Squall… why didn't you come to me…" the woman asked, still holding Squall in her fragile arms.

Squall knew this voice… a voice that sounded like the wind in song… a beautiful one at that… Once his eyes focused in on the figure, he gasped and tried to sit up. Being too weak and sickly, he failed, and instead the figure hugged him dearly. She held him in her arms, not at any desire to let go. 

"Ri… Rinoa…" 

Without warning, a loud presence barged in through the washroom door, breathing rapidly. 

"SQUALL! SQUALL! SQUALL-MAN!!" the man yelled, putting a hand to Squall's ghostly pale face. "We were so worried 'bout ya!!"

By then, Squall had regained his most of his consciousness, but hadn't a clue what was happening. Before him stood Zell and the whole gang, wide mouthed and worried to death. 

"Squall!" came Zell again, this time teary-eyed, "Don't do that to us again man! We were so dang worried! You could have killed yaself!"

"That's right," Rinoa added, "Squall… you should have told us that you weren't feeling well… Dr. Kadowaki would have helped you right away…"

"Don't always keep to yourself like that… ya know ya can always come to us for help!"

Squall turned to everyone, smiled, and began to cry unstoppably. It was so out-of-character for him, but he truly didn't care. Because he knew then that he had everything he needed, everything important to him, and that was…. the love of his friends. 

Fin


End file.
